Sunday, November 25, 2012

Quantum of Solace - Dir. Marc Forster (The Bond Project #22 - JM)

Quantum of Solace (2008)

Dir: Marc Forster

“Like a Bullet”
by
Jay Maronde

Director
Marc Forster scored a major Bond triumph with the 22nd official Eon James Bond
film. Quantum of Solace, while not as
long or initially as highly-rated as its predecessor Casino Royale, is an amazingly beautiful film which simultaneously
features some of the best acting, directing, writing, and action of the entire Bond
Canon. Much of this is due to the times surrounding the production of the film,
but I believe Forster’s guidance was not only essential, but the true reason
why this Bond is so fantastic.

Marc Forster
is the first non-British-Empire-born Bond director EVER. He is of Swiss-German
descent, which he maintained gave him some insight into Bond’s character, as
Bond’s mother was supposedly Swiss. But if it weren’t for Daniel Craig very
strongly recommending him to the producers, he probably would never have gotten
the job. For what it’s worth, Forster has repeatedly stated in interviews that
he would never have taken the reins had he not previously viewed Casino Royale and really liked the new
character development of Bond and the much colder realism. Regardless of the
reason Forster was chosen, it was an excellent decision as the Bond he produced
is so very little like any other Bond and yet an utterly stunning marvel of a
film.

Forster’s influence is very strong
throughout the film as the rough draft of the script for Quantum was finished only hours before the Writers’ Strike. Forster
and Craig essentially re-wrote large sections of the film themselves, reworking
dialogue and even huge plot sections daily while filming. The result of this
“automatic director’s cut” is a film which is not only remarkably visually
stunning but also has very little dialogue, which is again evidence of Forster’s
skill as a director.

Numerous scenes require zero
dialogue and the film shows with its images what happens—much in the way that silent
films of yore had to tell their stories with expressive acting and well-placed
camera angles. The entire pre-credits sequence only features five words of
English. The remainder of the film’s opening is probably the most fantastic car
chase ever put on film. Moreover, when Forster requires dialogue it is almost
always short, pithy, and perfectly Bond. One of my favorite James Bond lines
ever occurs in Bolivia when Bond and Strawberry Fields (which by the way is an
amazing Bond name, but we will get to her later) arrive at the hotel, and as Bond
peruses his luxurious hotel suite, he turns from the bedroom, looks at Fields,
and says in a way that only James Bond could: “I can’t find the, um,… the stationery…
could you come and help me look?”
Clearly Bond isn’t looking for paper. But Forster manages to maintain the
cold reality of James Bond the assassin while at the same time having Daniel
Craig completely out-suave all the Roger Moore movies combined. Forster also
manages to reference all four major elements and pay homage to numerous Bond
and non-Bond classics including Goldfinger,
DR. No, North by Northwest, and Citizen
Kane. This movie is shorter—quite possibly the shortest of all the Bonds—clocking
in at far less than two hours. Forster commented that he wanted to the film to
be that way: “Quick and hard hitting, like a bullet.” This fast-paced style of
film works incredibly well for a Bond film. There are no gaps in the action,
the movie doesn’t drag, the story is central, and much of the ancillary
nonsense common amongst Bond movies has been completely removed to keep this
rapid pace. In the end this provides for a delightful film that provides more
and more enjoyment with each and every viewing.

Part of
what Forster wanted in his “bullet-like” film was to have intense, realistic
action. To this end the film features some of the best action sequences in the
Canon. First off, the movie starts with a riveting car chase that I feel is
easily the best I’ve ever seen, and I have seen plenty of car chases. I will
gladly grant the haters that the sequence is short, but the action is so
remarkable, the driving is so incredible, and the scenery and cinematography is
so thrilling that the sequence easily stands next to the great car chases in film
history. They certainly paid for it, as the production team destroyed six $300,000+ Aston Martins during the
filming—one of which had already been purchased by a well-funded Bond
aficionado—even though it was completely destroyed and Daniel Craig never even
sat in it. Shortly after the car chase, Bond is propelled into a remarkable
foot chase which pays a great reference to Citizen
Kane when Bond and the henchman fall from the roof thru a glass ceiling and
into an atrium with the camera steadily following in perfect Welles-ian fashion.
Later Bond engages in a dramatic boat chase scene, ostensibly so Forster can
achieve the water element of the story. But while the scene is great and Bond
obviously kicks serious ass, the beauty is that Bond is driving a boat with the
same name as Quarrel’s boat from Dr. No.
After some more of the movie plays out, Bond flies an old DC-3 in an epic plane chase sequence
that not only references the air element but also pays tremendous homage to North by Northwest. The scene ends with
the Bond Classic “jump from an airplane with no parachute and solve that
problem on the way down!” Here again Forster shines—as rather than hiring
numerous stuntmen to perform and ending up with a lot unbelievable (not in the
good way) distance shots of stunt doubles falling, he had the stars Craig and
Kurylenko actually perform the scene themselves with the assistance of an
indoor sky dive facility. Quantum of
Solace is the only Bond film to feature a car chase, a foot chase, a boat
chase and a plane chase. All of these action scenes serve not only to advance
the plot, but also to keep the audience on the edge of their seats.

All of
Forster’s great direction would have been completely moot had he not had
amazing actors to work with. There are few unnecessary characters and all the
actors have obviously been pushed to the peak of their performances by Forster
who is known for filming constantly even during rehearsals and sometimes even
using the rehearsal shots in the film cut. Daniel Craig is back as the coldest,
most real Bond ever. He not only is doing a lot of his own stunts but you
almost feel like Craig stayed in character between films to be able to really
understand the coldness of the soul brought to a man who professionally kills
people. Craig literally suffered for the making of this movie, requiring eight
stiches and plastic surgery to his face after a mis-choreographed fight sequence
gone wrong. He also lost the tip of a finger (which had to be surgically
re-attached) in another “too real” scene. Craig has commented that he felt Casino Royale physically was a walk in
the park comparatively even though his training was far more extensive for Quantum.

Craig isn’t the only star however,
as he is backed up by a fantastic cast who all purposefully aid Forster’s
vision. To not mention Dame Judi Dench
would be completely remiss, as she plays one of her larger roles in the
Franchise to date, and she is excellent as the MI:6 chief torn between
trusting her best agent and a whole
world who is against her and Bond. Her scene with Bond in Bolivia is another
excellent example of Forster’s well-thought filmmaking style, as when Bond is
“removed from duty”( in classic Bond franchise fashion) Dench is dressed all in
white as Craig is dressed in black so as to symbolize their opposing sides of
good and evil.

Another very famous and very
important woman in the film is Olga Kurylenko as the resplendent undercover
Bolivian Agent Camille Montes. Numerous times in the history of the Bond
franchise there have been co-stars next to Bond who are supposed to be the
“female equivalent of Bond,” some sort of tough female agent who is supposed to
be Bond’s equal (be they allies or enemies)—but compared to Kurylenko, they all
fall drastically short. This film, for the first time in the Canon, really
features a lady agent who can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Bond. The two
never make love—there is only a fleeting kiss as they part ways—but more
importantly she is just as personally troubled as Bond and is more than willing
to use her sex to achieve her mission objectives (exactly as Bond always does).
This is further evidence of Forster’s well-planned directorial style.

Another
delightful cast member (so delightful she deserves her own paragraph) is the
Lovely Strawberry Fields, played masterfully by the utterly gorgeous Gemma
Arterton. Miss Arterton was chosen from over 1400 applicants for the role and
while her performance is fleeting, she is radiant, first as the paper pusher
sent to intercept Bond, and later in the greatest self-referencing homage in
any film franchise ever, when she is covered in oil and left dead in Bond’s
hotel a la Goldfinger. Arterton (who,
yes was born a polydactyl (6 fingers and toes on each hand and foot)) and her strawberry
hair were already a physical homage to all the remarkable red-headed Bond
ladies throughout the Franchise, but the oil scene in which she really suffered
through being painted completely black was such a fantastic homage that die
hard Bond fans still gasp every time they see her lifeless black body. It’s also worth noting that the viewer never
learns her name is Strawberry Fields until the end credits roll, as no matter
how many times Bond asks her name, she always responds, “Just Fields.”

Any
Bond movie would be lacking without a strong villain and Quantum of Solace surely took note of this fact with numerous
villains and henchmen throughout the film. First off there is the special type
of old illuminati evil that is Mr. White (once again played by the resilient
Jesper Christensen, reprising his role from Casino
Royale). While Mr. White is once again devilishly good, the real star on
Team Bad Guys is one Dominic Greene (played by the French actor Mathieu Amalric).
Mr. Greene is one of the few Bond villains in the Franchise and who has no
outward physical deformities, but he is still a really, really, creepy looking
villain. Amalric, who has publicly stated numerous times that this was the role
of a lifetime and that he felt unable to refuse the honor as there was no way
his future self could have ever explained to his children that he turned down
the role of a Bond villain, apparently asked Forster several times to include
some form of prop or effect or something to make his character more
villain-ish, but Forster staunchly refused, citing his realistic vision of the
film. While it may not seem like a compliment, I personally think that Amalric
is more than freaky enough as a Bond villain. The scene where he arrives in
Austria and hops into his waiting limo as CIA agents look on always reminds me
of a snake who has dislocated its jaw to enable to consumption of overly large
prey, and his fight with Bond at the end of the film is just as dramatic and
far more gripping than any other final battle that Bond has with any of the
other villains in the entire franchise. His scene with Bond and Camille at the
party is another point where the film’s writing and directing are beyond
reproach, as when Bond and Greene meet, Greene says to Bond, “My friends call
me Dom-min-nic,” and Bond retorts, “I’m sure that they do.”

Amalric’s slick non-American
sounding way of saying Dom-MIN-nic is first off evil in just the particular way
that you would expect a super villain to be evil. Bond’s retort is priceless,
perfectly pithy, perfectly-Bond, and the look that Amalric shoots back in
response is a special kind of evil. In interviews Amalric has stated that he
tried to base the character of Greene on a cross between Tony Blair and
Nicholas Sarkozy (who he claims is the worst villain the French people have
ever known) but whatever his methods, he isn’t just creepy or weird, he is
downright evil in a way that is rarely expressed so well on film.

While on the topic of villains,
this review would be completely remiss without mentioning the stunning
performance of Joaquin Casio as General Medrano. Casio was absolutely the
perfect casting for the coup leading serial rapist General Medrano. He looks
the part, he sounds the part, and his impressive physical size next to
Kurylenko and his other attempted rape victim make him a great casting decision—but
he almost didn’t get the role, as during pre-production none other than AL
PACINO expressed interest in the role.
Negotiations betwixt Pacino’s people and the Eon productions team were
rather extensive, and it never came to fruition, but as a big Pacino fan myself
I can only imagine what might have been.

While
this film relies heavily upon fantastic action, writing, and acting to get its
points across, I feel that the music department at Eon certainly deserves a
mention for its outstanding work in this film. First and foremost the title song
“Another Way to Die,” performed by Jack White and Alicia Keys, is exquisite.
The song is not only very Bond-ish, but also a very good pop rock song easily
worthy of a place on the Billboard charts. This song was actually the second
choice of the producers, as Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson did record a demo for
the song but the producers felt that they needed to pass, as due to Winehouse’s
“personal issues,” they couldn’t be assured of a timely delivery of the song.
Someday that demo tape is going to go up for auction and it’s going to be worth
a lot of money. But the music doesn’t just play a role in this singular part of
the film as it does in many Bond movies. The score throughout this whole film
is absolutely critical as it enhances every scene from the very first moment as
the film opens with low strings and a long pan to the car chase, all the way through
the very last moment when the iconic James Bond theme plays.

Also of note is the delightful
opera scene which was really shot during an actual performance of Tosca at the real floating opera which
is really in Bregenz, Austria. The opera scene is a gorgeous piece of
cinematography, and it was a matter of outstanding luck that the real Bregenz
Opera was actually performing during the time of filming. Tosca, with its own convoluted plot line of revenge, is perfect as
a backdrop, and the uber-postmodern opera house with its giant eyeball sets fit
perfectly into the James Bond Mythos. The music team also scored Bond’s escape
from said opera house perfectly using the music from Tosca to provide an amazing backdrop for another essentially silent
segment of the film. At all points in the film the music seems to carry the
viewer seamlessly from one segment to another much the way an organ player
would have in a classic silent film of yore.

I’m
going come right out and say it: Quantum
of Solace is the best of the Bonds. The film is easily the best-planned and
executed Bond film in a very long time—but more importantly to me the film’s
brevity is really at the heart of what makes it so special. Forster wastes not
a frame with uselessness. The film is really as he desired and described: like
a bullet. Many have complained about the fact that this is the only direct
sequel in the franchise, but honestly the film only really deals with leftover
issues from Casino Royale at the very
beginning and very end, leaving the rest of the movie as a monument to epic filmmaking,
and evidence of what a wonderful director can do with a very large budget.